The Blog of P.U.R.E. and Sue Scheff

Help Stop Teen Cough Medicine Abuse    Talking to teens about drug abuse is never easy. Did you know teens that learn about the dangers of drugs from their parents are 50 percent less likely to abuse drugs? As parents, we must work together to educate our teens and create awareness about the dangers of substance abuse, including over-the-counter (OTC) cough medicine abuse. In 2007, five moms from around the country were brought together to share information with other parents about the largely unknown trend among teens of abusing OTC cough medicines to get high. Since then, the Five Moms campaign has reached more than 24 million parents to help educate them about preventing teen cough medicine abuse, spreading awareness to parents, schools, and communities. And now they want your help! The campaign recently launched the Are You the Next Five Mom? search to look for a new Mom to join the fight against cough medicine abuse. Are you a mom who is passionate a...

Sarah Newton and Lisa Warner have an amazing Blog, FINK (Family Interaction Nurtures Kids, which offers up-to-date advice, articles and resources for raising kid in today's world!Here is a recent post that I thought many parents can relate to and learn from. When is the right age to get your child a mobile phone? By Sarah Newton I get asked this question a lot and to me it is so immotive and difficult to answer as each child and each family is different. And my opinion may differ from yours. There are so many things to consider. 1. Why does she want one or why do you want her to have one? Most girls will start asking for a phone when they move up to secondary school ( 12 years old) the phone becomes a social thing and a status symbol to them. Boys tends to be a bit later when they want to communicate with girls. Any requests before this time will simply be just because they like the look of them and can generally be disregarded. Most parents will buy their children one before ...

Like most parents, you desperately want to raise healthy, happy, caring, self-sufficient kids. But despite the stacks of parenting books you’ve collected, you’re still struggling to find workable solutions to your child-rearing conundrums. Enter parenting expert and author Dr. Michele Borba . In a marketplace overly saturated with trend-based parenting books promising dubious quick fixes, Borba saw a void that needed to be filled. She realized parents were getting answers to their questions, and yet these “solutions” failed to deliver lasting, long-term results. Her response was to sit down and write the parenting book to end all parenting books. I had the opportunity to interview TODAY’s parenting contributor about her latest book, The Big Book of Parenting Solutions . Here is what she said: Let’s face it, there are so many parenting books. Why did you find need to write another? I wanted to write one all-encompassing, go-to guide that promises to be the last resource parents will eve...

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood Launches Child Passenger Safety Week Urges Parents to Learn How to Correctly Install Safety Seats U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today kicked off Child Passenger Safety Week as new research by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) showed that while there is a high use of child safety seats nationwide, a majority of children are not properly secured. “Every year hundreds of young lives are lost to automobile crashes,” Secretary LaHood said. “Parents and caregivers need to make sure they learn how to properly install child safety seats so their kids will be safe whenever they’re on the road.” During Child Passenger Safety Week (September 12-18) parents and caregivers can get their child safety seats checked at one of the thousands of free safety seat inspection stations set up across the country. Beginning with National Seat Check Saturday, September 12, English- and Spanish-speaking child passenger safety technici...

Teach Time Management: The Key to Success by Education.com Topics: Organizing Your Work, Scheduling and Time Management Every busy parent, wishing for more than 24 hours in the day, has tried to come up with ways to make more efficient use of their time. By establishing efficient routines and reasonable schedules in your home, you have the ability to do just that. You might even find yourself with enough time to plan fun extra activities to do with your family. Rhona M. Gordon, a speech pathologist, organizational specialist and author of Thinking Organized for Parents and Children , has these tips for parents to try: •Start early! To save time, everything in your house should have a designated place, including: back packs, lunch boxes, coats etc…Start practicing over the summer by having children put the items they use daily, such as swim bags or sports equipment, in a pre-arranged spot. It sounds simple, but it is true– it’s easier to find something if that item has a home. •Set ...

What a great website and educational information to help you raise your daughters. Take the time to learn more about A Way Through . The New School Year: Starting with a Clean Slate By Jane Balvanz Last week we had our school’s ice cream social and meet the teacher night. There was such excitement as students raced around to find out whether they got the “right” teacher and if their friends were in their class. Kindergarteners marched in with their parents, behind them if they were wary and ahead if they were excited. I like to watch this rite of passage. The kindergarteners start school with clean slates. No one really knows them. These students basically are happy little people, and as a teacher friend of mine once said, “They smell like milk!” They love school, the teacher, the kids, the crayons, and everything in the whole wide world. They are curious little sponges absorbing everything they can. I like that they start the school year with a clean slate. I wish that for all studen...

A Way Through - The Female Freindship Experts. Recently I was introduced to this educational website for parents of daughters. You will find some great tips, advice and information to help you be a better parent to your daughter. Here is one of their recent Blogs on a hot topic - bullying. By Blair Wagner How Should a Girl Respond to an Emotional Bully? Let’s say you’re in a meeting at work and a co-worker rolls her eyes when you offer a suggestion to a problem your team is discussing. You’re tired of her constant non-verbal abuse and you decide to address her. Do you know what you’d say? What tone of voice would you use? What emotion would you portray as you walk up to her? This situation is stressful enough to make even the most socially savvy adult break into a sweat. Can you imagine doing it when you are nine years old? Or 13 years old? Pay Attention to Words, Tone of Voice, and Emotion Girls struggle with how to respond when they are on the receiving end of hurtful friendship be...

If you don't receive Sue Blaney's 2 Minute Tips , you should subscribe. She always offers sound and reliable advice on raising our teens today. By Sue Blaney My tip this week is – Link Freedom and Responsibility - Listen now. I received a query from a mom of a teenager asking for my input on curfew times for her teen. New curfews and questions about updated rules are relevant now as a new school year begins. As they go up a grade teens may have expectations for additional freedom; and they will likely be making some new friends and opportunities for new social activities could be on the horizon. So let’s talk about curfews in the context of additional freedom for your teen in general. What kind of additional freedoms are appropriate as your teen grows? More on Link Freedom and Responsibility - 2 Min Tip #69

Another sneak peak of Parenting Expert, Dr. Michele Borba's, upcoming book - The BIG Book of Parenting Solutions! Don't forget to order your copy! By Michele Borba How to Help Kids Make New Friends and Fit nto a New Social Scene Any new social scene can be really tough. Having all new classmates, joining a brand-new group of kids on a soccer team, transferring to a new school, going away to camp alone and most of all moving isn’t easy. And oh how kids can pour on the guilt to remind us they’re not happy campers: “You’re ruining my life!” “Why do I have to go to this new school?” “Why can’t we move back to our old neighborhood? Do you have any idea how unhappy you made me?” Knowing that our kids are lonely, feel left out, and desperately miss their old group is tough. As much as we’d love to, we can’t instantly wipe away our their pain because their best friends are left behind and they can’t fit in with the new crowd. But we can ease their discomfort by making the transition a...

Kara Tamanini , and author and therapist, wrote an interesting Blog entry today. I am sure there are parents that will relate to this. Be sure to visit http://www.kidsawarenessseries.com/ for more great information from Kara Tamanini. Follow her on Twitter @KidTherapist When Parents Don’t Agree Over Discipline What do you do as a parent when your child is resistant to discipline and your spouse will not stand behind you and enforce the rules. As a therapist, I see this all the time. One parent is the “good guy” and the other one who disciplines and enforces the rules is the “bad guy”. No two parents agree all the time about discipline/boundaries and will parent the same, however some parents just don’t want to discipline at all and want their children to be their “friend”. Children and parents are NOT friends, your child needs a parent, their friends are at school. This is a serious problem as it puts one parent against the other and of course the child will play one parent against t...

As a Parent Advocate , I am a huge fan and friend of Michele Borba ! I am very excited that her 23rd book will be released in September 2009. The reviews are in and they are outstanding! The Big Book of Parenting Solutions: 101 Answers to Your Everyday Challenges and Wildest Worries Publishers Weekly Borba, author and Today Show regular, employs a cookbooklike approach in her latest volume: rather than read through the entire tome, parents can flip to topics pertinent to their family. Borba opens with a friendly overview, noting that contemporary parents feel more stressed and find their roles increasingly difficult (June Cleaver, she points out, didn’t have to deal with cyberbullying or Facebook). With characteristic wit, Borba identifies the “seven deadly parenting styles,” including helicopter, buddy, incubator, bandage, paranoid, accessory parenting (judging themselves by their kids’ accolades) and secondary parenting (relinquishing power to such outsiders as marketers or the me...

Drop Your Reins Presents Danielle Herb’s “The Experience” At Cheer Horse Ranch, Amelia Island, Florida - July 11, 2009 CHEER recognizes the challenges young people face as they mature in our society. There are demands on their time and focus that we’re not a part of growing up 20 years ago. CHEER strives to guide the emotional development of our young friends through a healthy interaction with horses. By offering this interaction, CHEER will provide a foundation of life lessons aimed at allowing people to navigate their future with dignity, grace and caring. CHEER has a mission and a goal to help manage growth and has an eye to create happy children and content horses . We togther will utilize the unique human-equestrian interaction in a collarborative endeavor to enrich the emotional lives of our friends by: *Teaching selflessness through caring of others *Fostering self-confidence through nonjudgemental relationships *Discovering self-reliance through doing *Promoting self-esteem thr...

Source: Tangerine Times A Hug; A New Teen "Hello?" I’m a hugger more than a kisser so I didn’t pay attention to this trend as much as maybe other people did. Now that it’s been written about and discussed , I guess I would have to agree that hugging is much more common with this generation of kids. And, by the way, does this increase effect teen-age boys as much teen-age girls? My son isn’t old enough (yet) for me to see the trend with boys. Will he start hugging when he gets in high school? I don’t know. At first, I thought it was a California thing to do….all the hugging was just left over “California summer of love” stuff. Evidently not. When did I first notice it? Hard to say. Mainly because it’s pretty common for teen girls to hug their friends hello, good-bye, when they are excited, when they are sad and well…anytime. Maybe I first noticed it when my daughter had a mixed group of friends over (when they were 14 or so) and when saying good-bye, she hugged both the girl...

Why Parents should set up clear Boundaries for their Kids By Kara Tamanini If you ask almost any child if they need boundaries, they are of course going to say, "I don’t need no rules". Of course, nobody wants to follow rules, almost everyone wants to tell others what to do but at the same time they don’t want to be told what to do. Most people want to do what they want to do and when they want to do it. So why should we set up boundaries for our kids. Parenting children is not simply about how and what you are doing for them right now, it is really about developing their character in order for them to be successful adults that are able to have boundaries with others and be able to develop healthy relationships into the future. As parents, we are completely aware that children have to be taught how to do everything and this includes how to act and behave. A boundary is like an imaginary line that defines a person of where they are and how they relate to those around them. C...

It has been a week of tremendous loss in Hollywood and in many hearts of people throughout the world . This grief is effecting all ages, from kids that have been mesmerized by the music of an ICON to adults that grew up with that ICON -the shock and sudden death of anyone you have grew up with, looked up to, or simply had become part of "your" life can be devastating. I found an article from Education.com that offers some great advice on handling grief within your family. Helping / Supporting Someone Who Is Grieving by Jeanne Segal , PhD Jaelline Jaffe , Ph.D.Linda Laucella Source: Helpguide Bereavement can be a lonely and frightening experience for many people. Once the funeral is over and the cards and flowers stop pouring in, they still need caring and support. It is not uncommon for people to have difficulty openly expressing their feelings around grief and sadness. This may be particularly true when the public outlets for their pain and sorrow have ended. Where do peop...

Everytime I re-print (re-blog) this article, I am amazed at the response. Many parents are not familiar with some of the struggles parents endure with adopted children. This author considers her daughter a blessing, however recognizes the challenges that she didn't expect. The Ballad of the Adopted Child By Jeanne Drouillard DOES your teen, •always seem angry? •have anger that turns into rage? •show signs of depression, i.e., withdrawal, slipping grades? •show disrespect to you or disrespect people in authority? •self-protect by keeping people at a distance? •lie, manipulate and steal? •ever talk about his/her biological parents? •want to find his/her biological parents? DO you, •feel comfortable about your teen's behavior? •recognize signs of RAD (Reactive Attachment Disorder)? •believe you must be adopted to show signs of RAD? •understand what is meant by the Primal Wound? •think it makes a difference at what age a child is adopted? •understand bonding and how it can be dis...

As a fan of Ziggy - this character can always put a smile on your face. So parents, take a break and treat yourselves to some Ziggy Time . New York, NY - (April 28, 2009) – The world’s ultimate optimist is larger than life. Now appearing through the end of June, in the heart of one of the business hubs of the world, Ziggy is shining down from the CBS Jumbotron Billboard in Times Square in New York City. The Ziggy billboard, located at 8th Avenue and 42nd Street, is a huge monument of the major media marketing blitz that’s been happening for the launch of the new book, Zig-zagging: Loving Madly, Losing Badly – How Ziggy Saved My Life (HCI Books - $17.95), a memoir by Tom Wilson, Ziggy cartoonist. Complimenting the billboard and a host of positive pre-release book reviews, and the viral video interview , Wilson has been receiving bountiful media exposure and praise regarding the new book. In addition to an in-depth personal interview that is appearing in a nationally syndicated newspape...

Source: Connect with Kids “Academics was hard, and trying to fit in was harder.” – Brendon, 14, talking about his experience in a new middle school When Brendon Yag entered middle school, his grades began to drop and so did his attitude. “Academics was hard and trying to fit in was harder,” says Brendon, 14. His mom says she met with the principal, and didn’t like what she heard. “He felt I needed to let my child fail,” says Meg Yag, “to understand the consequences of what he was or was not doing.” Meg lost confidence in the school’s approach, but experts warn when dissatisfaction with a school turns into outward disrespect voiced by the parent, the child may feel it’s okay to misbehave. “The child is in between, like a custody case between the school and parents, and will take an opportunity not to respect the rules of the school,” says psychologist Dr. June Kaufman. Brendon’s mom was careful to not criticize the school in front of her son. “The school is a fabulous school for the ri...

Source: ADDitude Magazine ADHD behavior issues often partner with oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) -- making discipline a challenge. Try these strategies for parents of ADD kids. by Royce Flippin Every parent of a child with attention deficit disorder knows what it's like to deal with ADHD behavior problems -- sometimes a child lashes out or refuses to comply with even the most benign request. But about half of all parents who have children with live with severe behavior problems and discipline challenges on an almost daily basis. That's because 40 percent of children with ADHD also develop oppositional defiant disorder , a condition marked by chronic aggression, frequent outbursts, and a tendency to argue, ignore requests, and engage in intentionally annoying behavior. How bad can it get? Consider these real-life children diagnosed with both ADHD and ODD: Read entire article here: http://www.additudemag.com/adhd/article/879.html

I know there are many parents that can relate to this. Personally, I grew up in a time when the divorce was almost unheard of, however once my siblings and I were all over 18, our parents divorced. What a relief! In many ways - it is my opinion, if you you know the marriage it over, and you have exhausted every avenue to keep it alive - and it is obvious that the union is over, in many ways divorce can be a better route for the kids - rather than living with the feuding and constant tension and confliction within the family unit. This is only my experience, take time to review these great tips from Connect with Kids. I am in no way promoting divorce, I am only saying as mature adults we need to do what is best for all involved. Of course, each family and their dynamics are different - requiring different solutions and results. Source: Connect with Kids Family Feuding “It’s very hard, and it takes a lot for me to trust somebody. I don’t trust people very openly, very freely.” – Katheri...